Nanda Devi is a great dog-friendly Indian restaurant serving very good North Indian style food and a good selection of drinks in Tampere (just off Hämeenkatu). The restaurant serves excellent lunch and dinner buffets every day, but also offers an extensive a la carte menu (except it is closed on Monday evenings). We were extremely happy, and surprised, to find that Nanda Devi is totally dog-friendly, especially given that it is the best Indian food we have found in Europe so far.
We have been to Nanda Devi about 5 or 6 times and have usually eaten off the buffet but also enjoyed some dishes off the a la carte menu once. Given the number of times we have been, we have tried many different dishes, so I will not go into specifics but will just focus on the style, quality and prices at the time of publishing.
First, the weekday lunch buffet, which is offered from 10:30am to 3pm on Mondays to Friday, costs €12.70 (€7.50 for children under 10) at the time of writing. The buffet offers a great selection of North Indian style dishes including some starters, breads and poppadoms, sauces, salad, and both vegetarian and meat dishes. One thing to note is that the buffet is replenished for the last time at 2:30 pm and I think this is also the last time to enter.
In addition to the lunch buffet, there is an evening and weekday buffet (“party buffet”) offered from 4pm to 9pm on Tuesday to Thursday, from 5pm to 9pm on Fridays, 12pm to 9pm on Saturdays, and all day on Sundays (12-8). The price of the “party” buffet is €22 at the time of writing this. The buffet is very similar to the lunch one, but offers a slightly wider selection and some more ‘premium’ dishes found on the a la carte menu. Again, I think the buffet is stocked for the last time 30-minutes before the published finish time.
On all our visits we have found the quality and selection of the buffet items to be very good if not excellent. The food has always been hot (temperature), not too greasy, and very tasty, with each dish having its own distinctive flavour (unlike in many places where the same “gravy” is used as the base for every dish). As noted, the buffet includes Nan Bread, Popadoms, a salad bar plus starters and mains. The breads have always been good, the salad fresh, and the starters often include both meat and vegetable pakoras, with nice sauces and pickles to accompany them. The mains include vegetarian options such a dhal, Channa Masala (chick pea curry), spinach and cheese curry, mixed vegetable curry or cauliflower, potato and pea curry. The meat-based mains usually include one or two chicken dishes including dry dishes like chicken tikka or tandoori and wet curries, and also a lamb curry. As noted, on weekends there is a slightly larger selection and often includes more speciality curries and kebabs such as shish kebab. We have been to India many times and have tried Indian restaurants in many countries, and so far, Nanda Devi is one of the best we have found in Europe.
Also as noted, we ate from the a la carte menu once, which is extensive, and while everything was very good, we did not see a major difference in quality compared to the buffet (which is a testament to the quality of the buffet and not a criticism of the a la carte). Thus, the only real reason for us to order a la carte is if we want specific dishes, which does happen.
In terms of drinks, there are one or two draft beers (local I think), and a couple bottle beers including two Indian brands, plus they offer wine by the glass and bottle, and other alcoholic and soft drinks. The prices are pretty standard; not expensive or cheap. We have only had the bottle beers and red wine but have always been happy with how they are served and the quality in general.
Al in all, Nanda Devi is a great find and we are very happy to have the option of enjoying very good Indian food without having to leave our dog at home. We have not tried so many other Indian restaurants in Tampere, and those we did have just been as take away, but Nanda Devi far outshines our other experiences in terms of taste and quality. Therefore, whether you have a pet or not, if you are in Tampere and looking for Indian food, Nanda Devi is highly recommended.
| Number of Visits | 5 or 6 |
| Last Visit | December 2022 |
| Dog Policy | All dogs welcome |
| Websites | https://nandadevi.fi/ https://www.facebook.com/NandaDevioffical/ |
